My kids have a 10 gallon fish tank. We have an algea eater and 3 neon tetras. A few weeks ago we got 4 guppies for it.. 2 female and 2 male. Within a couple days the two males died. We waited a while to watch the other fish and they were fine so we decided to get some more males. It's only been a couple days and already one of the males has died. Does anyone know if there's any chance that the females may be killing the males or is there maybe something special we're suppose to be doing to take care of them that I don't know about? Thanks in advance for your help.
2007-02-17 16:21:35 · 6 answers · asked by ♥~Amy~♥ 2 in Pets ➔ Fish
Thank you all for your comments they've all been very helpful. Their little hearts brake every time one of their fish dies. One of our females just had babies and hopefully we'll be able to keep them alive.. we bought a seperate tank to keep them in just in case!
2007-02-18 03:54:43 · update #1
That is a possibility that the females are just a bit more aggressive than usual, but I would consider the algae eater a more likely candidate. They can get a bad attitude on them and once they have any real size (3-4") they can get really mean.
Male guppies are also more sensitive to water conditions than females. You might want to do an extra water change or two and be sure the tank is nice and clean before trying again.
You may also want to wait a week or so and even try a different store, they may be having some type of unknown issues with their male guppies.
Hope this helps
MM
2007-02-17 16:46:40 · answer #1 · answered by magicman116 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
That's rather strange that only the males are dying. Typically the females aren't aggressive to the point of killing the males, but it could be possible that you ended up with a particularly nasty female. Are the males torn up at all? Check their fins the next time this happens and see if they are tattered or if there are any other indications that one of the other fish is picking on them. It could also be that the addition of the new fish caused the chemistry in your tank to become unbalanced and the males were the first ones to be affected. But, again, the females are probably not attacking the males, nor is there anything that you needed to do for them that you wouldn't have done for the females as well.
2007-02-17 16:31:49 · answer #2 · answered by Susan 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Fancy guppies are weaker than plain guppies so many times they don't last long after you get them home. if you have 2 males and 2 females,the males may fight each other over the few females and one or both will die from the fighting. Before you put a new guppy in tour tank,keep him (them) in a separate tank and add some aquarium (or kosher)salt. There are internal illnesses that many newly bought guppies have. It is better to have at least 2 females for each male,and hiding places if there are more than 1 male in the tank.
2007-02-17 17:53:43 · answer #3 · answered by DAGIM 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You might have just been unlucky in getting males that were freshly shipped to the store, so they were already messed up from travelling, then you get them and they travel some more, the stress just kills them.
However, have you tested your water to make sure the ammonia is in control? You can get a water testing kit for pretty cheap, you just put some tank water in a tube, put the drops in and wait for the water to change color, then look at the chart. If the ammonia is too high, then try to get it in control by doing partial water changes and possibly adding live plants. Once the water is clean again, then try adding a new male, but slowly. Some people say to sit the bag in the tank for 15 min, but I prefer to dump it out into a small container, and add some of the tank water bit by bit into the container so the temperature and chemicals in the water are slowly changed.
Don't forget to do a partial water change in your tank once a week, or at most every other week.
2007-02-17 16:30:44 · answer #4 · answered by greydrakkon 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I have guppies and they don"t kill each other, they just have lots of babies! When you bring the fish home did you let them set on top of the tank to get used to the water temp/? I would try a different pet store and when you change your tank do a partial change half and half and put one drop of Start Right it takes out the chlorine in the water! Hey Angel Fish are great also I have had mine for ten years!
2007-02-17 17:11:25 · answer #5 · answered by single mom 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Guppies aren't so easy to keep anymore...they are highly inbred and treated with hormones and everything . I have also heard reports that the only good guppies were coming from Israel and Sri Lanka...but the industry in Sri Lanka was wiped out by the tsunami
2007-02-17 22:58:08 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋